Conventional hand stitched and thermo bonded soccer balls have numerous drawbacks related to costs and performance. For example, the labor for hand-stitching balls is expensive since manufacturing a hand-stitched soccer ball may take two to four days. These balls also use a large amount of materials including three or more layers of cloth and a large amount of latex adhesive. Additionally, in hand stitched balls, the stitches are exposed on the surface of the ball. The exposure of the stitches on the surface leads to quicker abrasion of a manufactured ball.
On the other hand, thermo bonded soccer balls do not contain stitches that may be exposed on the outer surface, thermo bonded soccer balls have high transportation costs associated with them since they may not be deflated. For example, 7,500 deflated soccer balls may be packed in a twenty foot container, while only 2,500-3,000 thermo bonded soccer balls may be transported in the same container-leading to significantly higher transportation costs. Exemplary embodiments, consistent with the present disclosure, therefore aim to resolve the aforementioned problems, among others.